This Day in History

March 30, 1980: George Gervin became the fifth player to win at least three consecutive scoring titles, joining George Mikan, Neil Johnston, Wilt Chamberlain and Bob McAdoo. Michael Jordan would later join that select circle.

Pop Fined For Remarks About Greg Oden

In case you've been following the NCAA tournament so closely that you missed this bit of Spurs news, here it is.

Mike Monroe reports in the Express-News that, according to an NBA source, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was fined $15,000 for remarks about Greg Oden in respone to "a Boston Herald reporter about whether it would be fair for the Celtics to land the No. 1 pick in this summer's draft with Oden potentially available because Boston had lost out on the chance to take Tim Duncan in 1997."

"That would be the fair thing, wouldn't it? That would be the fairest thing. If they could get him, that would be great. It would mean there is some fairness in an unfair world."

Popovich, who never said Oden's name but was clearly talking about him, then made what seemed to be an off-the-cuff comment about Ohio State's near loss to Xavier that same day.

"If they'd lost, I thought, is this going to make that kid want to stay in one more year? I don't know, maybe he's just collegiately oriented, and it's a big disappointment, and he wants to come back and get it done.

"What would that do? I mean, everybody would just die. The bottom five teams would just croak. Then they came back and won."

White plays, Manu signs, I take crappy pictures and the Spurs kick butt.

Game 70 @ Golden State: Spurs 126, Warriors 89

I'm not usually prone to giddiness but that, ladies and germs was as close to a perfect game experience as I've had in quite some time. I won't bore anyone with the details, but due to miscommunication and unforseen circumstances I ended up paying way too much for awful tickets and I couldn't meet the Spursdynasty gang because I'm sick and my voice was completely scratchy and shot, like P.J.'s was during the Sprewell era.

The only way to salvage the whole affair would be to get to the arena extremely early and sneak down to floor level for warm ups. So that's what me and my BFF Manolis did. Immediately I regretted not bringing my mom's digital camera. Next time, definitely.

We got there 95 minutes before tip-off, so we were there even before the formal shootaround. These guys were actually working out with assistant coaches and stuff. I realize it's a stupid thing to say, but the first thing you think when you're ten feet away from NBA players is, "Whoa, these fuckers are huuuuuuge."

We managed to convince an usher to let us hang around the court as close as possible by telling her that we were part of a French contingent in town to watch Tony and I would assume, to a letter extent, Mickael Pietrus. Basically she asked us if we were with the French group and we said, "Oui."

Tony was out early, but was sitting at the Warriors bench with Pietrus and Elson and being interviewed by some guy. I didn't pay attention too much to the Warriors half of the court but I can tell you that Andris Biedrins has no jumper whatsoever and that Baron Davis was wearing these goofy blue tights. I yelled, "Hey Baron, Olivia Newton-John wants her pants back!" but my throat hurt too much for anyone to hear. Manolis quickly shushed before I could ask if he was planning on getting "physical, let's get physical" with Tony. Oddly, it turned out that he was.

As far as the Spurs go, the first guy I noticed running up and down the floor was Melvin Ely. Shortly after Jackie Butler and James White were doing the same. One thing I'll say about Butler - the guy has obviously lost some serious weight. He looked quite lithe from what I could tell. I think the scraggly beard makes him look like more of a slob than he actually is. Dude is NOT fat.

After a couple trips up and down White quit running and started to work on his shooting with some assistant coach I couldn't place. He was curling and taking jumpers from mainly the right side of the court. The other guys shooting were Fab and Beno, whom one would expect and Tim which floored me. Here's our superduperstar, and he was working on his game at a time when half the guys in the league are just walking into the arena. I guess that's why he's so good. Also, he's very tall.

I'm not sure how working on threes with Oberto and Chip Engulland helps his game though. For the record Engulland kicked both of the player's asses.

When he was done shooting and going back toward the locker room I rushed toward the stairwell where all the other autograph hounds were, but I was too high and behind the crowd for him to get to me. He signed for two minutes and went inside.

Pretty much all the Spurs had gone back in by the time Manu came out. He was practicing his jumper in a very regimented, coordinated manner. He started at the left baseline and gradually worked all the way around to the right baseline. I would estimate that he made about 80% of them, which sounds great, but is nowhere near the 95+% that Nash is notorious for in his warm-ups. Pretty soon afterward Brent joined him and naturally competition spurred both of them to even a higher level of precision. Neither one hardly missed for five minutes although to be fair Brent was taking mostly threes and Manu was working on the pull-up mid range J.

I saw Gino sign for somebody on the sidelines on the otherside of the court and quickly sprinted around but by the time I did he was already walking down the court and toward the tunnel, only stopping briefly to share a quick word with crazy ass Stephen Jax. There was already a large crowd waiting for him at the tunnel by the time I circled back and made it over there.

I'm not proud of it, but I kind of cheated. Instead of walking up the stands and finding myself all the way up the tunnel and to the back like I was with Tim, this time I just squished myself to the very bottom before any usher could say anything and stuck my arm out with the only paper I had on me, the printout of my ticket. Luckily Manu noticed me right away and I was literally the last person he signed for before walking in. I think I said "thanks" but I don't remember. The usher actually started to scold him for signing for someone who cut the line but I already left and went back toward Manolis by then.

The odd thing is that his signature is completely illegible. I mean I know he was in a hurry and he's a lefty like me an' all, but put it this way, he's very lucky the whole basketball thing worked out because I'm not sure he's literate. Shoeless Joe Jackson had a more authentic looking signature. I know Gino has his own blog and everything, but I'm not convinced some friend isn't helping him out with the actual reading and writing elements of it. It's like, I know the signature is real. He was a foot away from me when he signed it. But even looking at it I think it's a fake. It looks like a scribble in blue marker that a two year old would make. The only part I can make out is the "20" he put at the end. Still, totally cool. Matthew showed me this website late Monday night of cards with his signature on them, and apparently mine wasn't an anomaly. Manu Ginobili is such a God that he has his own freakin' language. Hey, maybe he's signing in Aramaic like Jesus.

Anyway, after I got Manu's autograph I noticed that James White was warming up some more, and here's another observation, from the guy who gave you "Whoa, those fuckers are huuuge"...

James White can jump really, really high. Oh my goodness, every single one of you has to find a way to watch this guy from floor level at least once in your lives, preferably in the next two or three years. The guy basically jumps straight up, thinks about what he's going to do with the ball for 10 seconds, makes up his mind, slams it and comes back down. As long as he has half a brain and plays hard it will be virtually impossible for White to not carve at least a decent career for himself in the league. Believe it or not but athletic guys who have a nonstop motor are in short supply in the Association. I know it's foolish to make any declarative statements based on 16 garbage minutes, but really, no matter what the roster looks like next year, I can see no reason for White to not have at least a Devin Brown-like role on the team in '07-08. Hell Bruce will be another year older and I doubt that both Fin and Brent will be back. White would be a cheap solution for our miserly owner. A better option than signing Pietrus with the mid level exception at any rate, and this way we could save that dough for Scola.

When we finally got to our seats, way the fuck high in the 200 level, my uncle joined us and he brought his digital camera. As you will shortly discover, I really need this writing gig to work out because I have absolutely no career ahead of me as a photographer. Gimme a break though, it was my first time trying to shoot moving objects.

Manu getting a few shots in right before tip. For a guy who shoots like eight times a night, he sure practices a bunch.

Bruce and Schnozzo had to drag Tony back onto the court, Baron Davis was beating him up so badly.

By far the most talented people in Warriors uniforms.

Is this picture A) Manu driving to the basket B) An album cover for The Cure C) Proof that I should never buy a camera or D) All of the above?

Anyway, once the game started I quickly realized that White was suited up and as far as coaching moves go it made enough sense I suppose. The Warriors have a plethora of swingmen to throw at you after all. Still, a part of me didn't want to see the guy play. I felt so guilty that I was gonna see him and that Matthew didn't, especially since he spent a bunch of money for his tix and mine were paid for.

By the end of the first half I knew White's debut was imminent. We had five guys, Tim, Manu, Tony, Bruce and Fin scoring at will. They couldn't miss out there. Gino took 3 whole shots in the first 24 minutes and had 11 points. Tony, after struggling initially with Davis, started to get to the cup with ease. Entry passes to Duncan were shockingly easy. All that AND a couple of our crappier shooters were ironically decidedly uncrappy simultaneously. 73-54 at half and good night Aunt Sally.

I like Andris Biedrins a lot as a player, the kid is a good rebounder and shows good hands catching all manner of passes on the pick and roll, but I'm beginning to suspect that his dominance over Duncan in their first meeting of the year was just a case of Tim underestimating the Latvian. He hasn't made that mistake since. Biedrins still had his moments offensively, especially since Davis and he can run a bread and butter play over and over again, but on defense Duncan just abused the kid. He's a bit too skinny and still has a way to go. That being said, I'd love to have him as a Spur for the next decade and would trade him for Fabcisco Elberto in the blink of an eye.

The Spurs I think would've beaten anybody on this night, they were a juggernaut offensively, but Nellie certainly helped them along by playing ridiculous lineups. For a while in the 2nd quarter they had 6'8" Matt Barnes in at center. Naturally Pop played along and went tinyball to match them. While I felt bad for my friend and my uncle for wasting good money on such a route, I can have no sympathy in my heart for a coach and a squad who can't be bothered with defense. They have the talent to do it, but it's just not being properly demanded of them. Those fans are being cheated in Oakland, that's all there is to it.

Anyway, the 3rd quarter was more of the same except now the Warriors couldn't throw it into the ocean. Tim and Frankie sealed off the rim and it was brick city from J-Rich and the gang on the perimeter. Manu had a fast break dunk off a nice set-up from Tony, probably his 3rd best slam of the season, but despite that momentary joy, the game had quickly become a laugher.

Enter James White.

White in action.

Like a coiled cobra, waiting to strike.

Brent: "Not bad meat, you know I used to jump like you once." James: "Uh huh."

Matthew's recap sums up the James White Experience better than I ever could. Once you type "copious amounts of seminal fluid" there's no turning back, you've officially reached the point of no return. Not only has this bit of prose turned Powell into bit of an internet celebrity overnight, but I believe White might hire him to be his agent any day now. Once the kid starts to get a big head, y'all know who to blame. I don't even know if I'm referring to Matthew or White anymore. They have like a symbiotic relationship.

Call me crazy, I haven't given up on that two seed just yet. After an understandably spotty 1st half defensively, (give 'em a break, they were up 19) they held the run and gun Dubs to 35 in the second half. Richardson and Harrington combined for 1 point on 13 shots. We had as many assists as they had made field goals. And White played and was pretty decent. Bully for the Spurs I say.

Your 3 Stars (we could have had like ten. Everyone was good except for Beno, who sucked goat ass.)

3. Manu Ginobili - 17 on 7 shots, and content to let everyone else do their thing. He's basically on cruise control until they need him and intent on making it to the postseason without a limp.

2. Michael Finley - 9 of 12 for 20 points overall. He basically buried the Warriors in the 2nd period and ensured that White would be making his debut. All you need to know about Golden State's defense is that Fin had at least three lay-ups. Surprisingly he was the only Spur not to come out for the pregame shootaround.

1. Tony Parker - 20 and 9 in less than 30 minutes. Not only was he efficient as hell scoring, thanks to 10 FTA, but his decision making on the fast break was excellent. I was stunned that he gave it up on every 2-on-1 and the pass was always delivered in the perfect spot as well. He also managed to tick off yet another opposing prima donna point guard. I think the criticism of him being selfish with White on the floor is unjustified. First of all the kid is a rookie and doesn't deserve squat. Secondly, Tony was trying to make sure that Tim and Manu could take the rest of the game off and that the entire fourth quarter would be extensive garbage time. Outside of maybe the first five minutes Tony was superb.

Record: 50-20 Streak: W-4
Up Next: Vs. New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets
Back home we go for another date with the gritty, gutty Nooch. I don't know who's healthy for them and I don't care. They've been banged up all year and can't ever seem to get all their guys on the court at once. We've blown these guys out a couple times already so we're due for a flat home performance and a close game.
(Yeah, I cheated on this part, sue me.)

Spurs Come Back to Swat Hornets

Elizabeth White writes for the Associated Press:

Down nine points going into the period, Duncan had already done plenty, scoring 12 points in the third and hitting his first 3-pointer of the season.

So the Spurs turned up the defensive effort, holding the New Orleans Hornets to just 13 fourth-quarter points to win 92-88 Wednesday.

"We gave up a lot in the previous quarters. It was a great way to turn it up," said Duncan, who led the Spurs with 31 points.

The look on Tim's face says it all.

"Avoid San Antonio"

Steve Kerr writes:

The San Antonio Spurs are pretty much locked into the third seed in the West, unless something dramatic happens. That means whomever is the sixth seed will be matched up with them.

Currently, the Lakers and Denver Nuggets are fighting it out for the sixth and seventh spots, and it looks like L.A. has the inside track to finish with a better record. But do the Lakers want to play San Antonio, with its championship rings and lockdown defense? Or would they prefer to face the Suns, who they put a major scare into last year? I'm guessing both Phil Jackson and George Karl would prefer to face Phoenix in the first round than San Antonio.

Personally, I'm looking forward to a Spurs-Lakers series. The teams split two close games in January, and the bad blood between them goes back more than 20 years.

Seattle recap on PtR

with Turkish soccer highlights and musings on Ray Allen's future...

http://poundingtherock.com/story/2007/3/26/16958/5827

APB for Gin-Oh-Blee

Game 68 Vs. Detroit: Spurs 90, Pistons 89

So often we hear statements like "this game had playoff level intensity" or "it was a playoff like atmosphere" and they're so overused that they've become trite and cliché, but you know what? This game did feel like the playoffs to me. I had my arms crossed the whole time, I was muttering and cursing like an idiot and while there is no photographic evidence to document it one way or the other, I can guarantee you that at no time did I ever look like I was enjoying myself. It's supposed to be entertainment yet I was not entertained. In short I am quite miserable to be around during playoff time. Remember that.

Still, it wasn't the game or the opponent that had me so worked up. How could it? For the most part everything went great. Pop played big for 47 minutes, with 30 of those going to my boy Frankie Elson. Even better, Bruce got only a reasonable 25 minutes of run instead of usual 35 that tends to produce diminishing returns with the old man. Ooh, also Findog was off the leash for just 14 minutes, and even as atrocious as he's been all year, even Michael Finley can only do so much damage in 14 minutes (knock on wood). Yeah, Robert Van Pelt did drag his sorry carcass up and down the floor for 18 minutes, but he somehow finished with a +5, so why quibble? Really the only disappointing aspect of the game *should have been* that our ejection streak came to an end. To tell you the truth, I feel cheated. I watched the first half of the Warriors/Wizards game afterward and crazy-ass Stephen Jackson got rung up for a lot less than what 'Sheed said. Alas...

Dude, when I called you a 'stupid-ass motherfucker' I didn't mean it in a bad way. Goddamn why do all y'all stupid-ass motherfuckers have it out for me? (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Okay, there is one area of concern. Our backup PGs suck again. Jacque-daddy has crashed back down to Earth with a loud thud. Against Indy he had 4 turnovers in 16 minutes. Vs. the Pistons he jacked up three ugly jumpers in six minutes. Even his usual sticky defense was AWOL. He was so bad that Pop felt compelled to play The Bean Burrito in the 4th quarter. Sadly, that didn't work either.

It seems that teams have figured out how to play against our second unit. Trap Manu the second he gets the ball and make him give it up and let Vaughn/Fin/Vaughn/Beno/Fab/Rocket shoot. Seriously, would any of those six guys scare you at all if you were an opposing coach? Of course not. I can't think of any solution to this problem except to switch Fin and Brent's roles so that Barry can play with Manu. Pop almost never lets them play together outside of tinyball for fear of defensive slippage. I guess that makes sense. I mean, Brent is okay on defense, he's decent, but he's not the stone cold lock down stopper that Findog is, right?

But really, what's eating Stampler's grape? Oh I don't know. Could it possibly be that Pop played OUR SECOND BEST PLAYER SEVEN FREAKIN' MINUTES IN THE FIRST HALF? No foul trouble, no injury, nothing. He just didn't play him. Or how about the fact that said second best player HAD 3 GOD DAMN SHOTS IN THE FIRST 45 MINUTES OF THE GAME.

What the cock is going on with Manu Ginobili? He's turned into Casper the Friendly Ghost. He's weightless, invisible and exceedinly white. In the past four games 18 of his 31 field goal attempts have been from three, (including 9 of 13 in the past two games) and of those 18 shots, he's canned three. The paint has become a forbidden zone for him much like it is for the rest of our bench scrubs. The isos are rare, the screens are non-existent, the spirit is lacking. He's not doing anything playing with the second unit anymore because he's being doubled as soon as he touches the ball. When he actually plays with good players, he gets largely frozen out of the offense. Either he's hiding some injury and taking it easy or Pop is resting him for the playoffs. Those make sense right? But what about the timing? The guys just had a players-only meeting two games ago. Did something weird happen? Harvey and Ludden have to get to the bottom of this. Matthew is going to the game on Sunday and I'm going Monday and neither of us are paying an assload of scrilla to see 2 of 6 in 25 minutes. So yes, consider me officially vexed.

I don't mean to tell you how to do your job Coach, but have you noticed that you've only played your second best guy for seven minutes in the first half? (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Of course one reason Schnozzo didn't play a lot was Brent's recent hot streak. 16 points on 10 shots in 32 minutes and Coach Wino was even praising his defense. The game before he scored 9 on 3 shots and had four dimes. And believe me, I totally dig all those fake no-look passes that do absolutely nothing. I'm just a little bitter that Manu and Beno never get to play with him anymore. It doesn't get any more fun for me as a Spurs fan than when the pale triangle take the floor. Preferably with Duncan too as I've noticed most of our lineups work better with Timmy than without. Nonetheless, I'll never forgive Pop for scrapping TPT. Never ever.

Beware the black-eyed demon. He'll burn your nets, eat your heart and give humorous self-depricating quips to your local media. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

So I guess all that leaves is Tony, Toní, Toné. (sigh). Why is it always such a tug of war with this guy? I've gotten to the point where I can amaze friends by predicting his turnovers three seconds before they happen (I've seen a Spurs game or two you see) and I'm frustratingly aware that I'm far likelier to be the meat in a Victoria's Secret model sandwich than Tony is to giving up the ball in the 1-4 alignment at the end of any quarter.

But, and there's always a but... every single time I think I'm at the end of my rope with him he makes another jaw dropping lay-up. He had three highlight worthy forays to the hoop last night and even Pistons' assistant coach Dave Cowens admitted that backing off him and letting him shoot is of no use because Tony still got to the cup with ease. Sure, he was taking advantage of a gimpy Billups, but it wouldn't have mattered either way. The guy is phenomanally talented and we're lucky to have him. I'm positive I'd be a bigger fan of the wee rapping Frenchman's game if here were on some other team. It just so happens he's on my team. And it just so happens that one of his main duties is to pass the ball to my favorite player. This creates a bit of a conflict of interest. Particularly during sequences such as the end of the 3rd quarter that if I expounded upon would surely lead me breaking my mother's laptop. At first I felt guilty about my feelings for Tony. Ashamed even. However thanks to the interweb, not only do I know I'm not alone with my sentiments, I may even be in the majority. So truly Mr. Longoria, it's not personal. Just pass ze fucking ball more, ouí?

On a cheerier note, I just want to touch on a couple of other sporting topics. First, my homeboys the Turks won at Greece in a Euro '08 qualifier. And they didn't just squeak by one-nil. No sir, they whooped Greece's monkey asses 4-1. You people have no idea how big this is. Turkey-Greece is a huuuuge rivalry. Makes Spurs-Mavs look like Grizzlies-Bobcats. Everytime we play each other the score has always been 0-0, purposefully I've always thought as the players are the only citizens of either country mature enough to realize it's just a game. A scoreless draw and everyone saves face and nobody gets hurt. So much for that theory after today's game though. Turkey is 4-0-0 so far in qualifying and their prospects for making the '08 tournament seem excellent indeed. @Greece was easily the most daunting game of any of the twelve in their qualifying sked.

The only downside that Manolis sucked all the fun out of trashtalking him afterward. I told him the score and said something crude and he just simply replied, "What do I care? We won the whole tournament in '04. They could lose every game the rest of my life and I'll be happy."

No comeback for that my friends. But perhaps a valuable lesson for us Spurs fans, eh? Eh? Maybe not.

Ooh, also I noticed that the March Madness is really getting batshit crazy. In the elite eight we've got 1 vs. 2, 1 vs. 2, 1 vs. 2 and in the wild and wacky Midwest region, it's 1 vs. 3. Who'd a thunk it! Man how weird would it be if those Cinderella 3 seed Oregon Ducks made it to the Final Four? Fasten your seatbelts everybody! Wooooooo

Your 3 Stars...

3. Brent Barry - He only looks good because his backup is a total bum.

2. Francisco Elson - 9 pts, 10 rebs, and held his own against a pissed off 'Sheed. He was running' and shootin' and dunkin' and everything. The dribbling was quite frankly terrifying, but I've calmed down now.

1. Tony Parker - I'll take 22 and 7 every game from him no questions asked. But 19 shots Tony? Really? I mean really? Ugh.

Record: 48-20 Streak: W-2
Up Next: @ Seattle Supersonics
As I mentioned already, PtR founder and EIC Matthew Powell will be attending this game and he has kickass seats. He's too chickenshit to show up there in a white labcoat and hold up a sign that reads "I'm Ray Allen's OB-GYN" though. Hopefully the boys will put on a good show for him, especially Gonzo. I don't think Rayneesha will be playing for the Supes so really we've got no excuses about putting this game to bed early. We pretty much have to rest the big three as much as possible to have any realistic hope of sweeping the back-to-back.

Pacer recap sorta but not really.

http://www.poundingtherock.com/story/2007/3/23/8370/62396

Pacer recap not about the game whatsoever. There really is a secret message in the post. Have fun!

Losing to the Bastard Irish? I Need a Drink.

Game 66 Vs. Boston: Celtics 91, Spurs 85

Ugh. We've seen enough of these this year, no? Charlotte. Houston. Lakers. @ Minny. They sleepwalk through three quarters, look up at the scoreboard at the beginning of the fourth, the reality of a 10 point defecit finally dawns on them, they wake up with from their stupor and fight furiously to tie it up and perhaps even take a small lead, and it still goes all for naught as they run out of energy and crap the game away. Finally, the ultimate indignity. The Celtics broke The Duncan Curse. On St. Patrick's Day no less. A little part of me died last weekend. I really thought he was going to go his whole career without losing to those bums. He might as well go retire now I guess.

Anyway, whenever one of these comebacks go astray every, Spurs fan says the same thing: "Why the fuck can't they play with the energy and purposefulness they showed in that six minute fourth quarter stretch all the time?"

Well, Matthew's stock answer whenever we lose is simple - "Old and slow, old and slow."

Me? Well I like to overanalyze things. Por ejemplo, I happen to think it's pretty unrealistic to demand the guys to rev their engines to the red all of the time. Not only would ESPN and the rest of the media find it kind of curious when we win the first three games of the season by a combined score of 693 to 24, but the rest of the year would be a relative downer once the guys started getting hospitalized for exhaustion. But yeah, we sure would see a whole bunch of James White before too long now, wouldn't we?

There were certain aspects of the game that I think are legitamate concerns and other parts that are too flukey to worry about. Like I read some guy freaking out because Rajon Rando, the rookie Celtics point guard, grabbed 14 rebounds. Apparently this is the sign of the Spurs' impending doom or something. Just one problem - 13 of his 14 boards were defensive. Who cares who gets the pull when we miss a shot? Maybe their bigs boxed out our bigs and Rando happened to be the 3rd man in a bunch of times. Or maybe several long rebounds came his way from all of our errant threes. You want the rebound stats to look less impressive for the bad guys? I suggest we shoot better in the first place and give them less opportunity to collect misses.

Personally as far as Rondo goes, I'd be a lot more concerned about the fact that some rook outassisted our veteran PG 6 to 4 despite our guy playing five more minutes, but hey, that's me.
Or here's another myth: Frankie and Fab's atrocious play vs. the Celtics is more damning proof that Pop will be forced to go to tinyball in the playoffs. Oh really?
Just one small problem with that. Any available statistic shows us it's complete bunk.

Not helpin' me here, Fab-0

Here are relevant lineup numbers, both offensive and defensive for Frankie, Fab, and the two gentlemen most likely to replace them in a tinyball lineup, Misters Finley and Barry. (All stats courtesy of 82games.com)

Player Min +/- Off Def Net48
Elson 32% +150 96.0 89.0 +7.0
Oberto 36% +160 98.4 91.8 +6.6
Barry 43% +162 99.3 93.7 +5.6
Finley 43% +102 96.9 93.3 +3.5

The "Min" is the percentage of available minutes for the season that these guys have spent on the court. You'll notice that Brent barely edges out Oberto for top honors among the four, but he's played 7% more. Meanwhile defensively the bigs help to allow significantly fewer points, per 48 minutes than the smalls and the net differential between offense and defense has Elson and Oberto ahead of their smaller, older counterparts.

Furthermore, if you look at the data based on per 100 possessions you'll see the bigs still come out well ahead of the smalls.

Frankie (Net +0.3)
Fab (Net -1.7)
Brent (Net -5.2)
Fin (Net -9.8, gross!)

Are our bigs great? No. Are they even assets? No. Can I state beyond a shadow of a doubt that they're not liabilities? I cannot. But they're better than the alternative. Never forget that.

As far as the Celtics game goes, yes both Frankie and Fab were atrocious. Abysmal. Doltish, if you prefer. But Matt Bonner wasn't. I don't understand why Pop took him out in the 4th. They were doing fine with him in there. I wish Pop would quit dicking this guy around and give him an honest look so we can find out one way or another what he brings. Like we can't afford Horry to go on IR for the next 5 games. Please.

Am I the only one here a little annoyed with RoHo's game-by-game Lucy Van Pelt routine to Pop's Charlie Brown? What a cocktease this guy is. Every game Pop brings him in with a couple minutes left in the 1st quarter to see if this is the night that "Big Shot Bob" will decide to show up. And nine out of ten times Horry slumps back to the bench six minutes later, never to resurface while Pop contemplates the Bonner vs. Tinyball 4th quarter dilemma.

No "Big Shot Bob" today, Pop.

The only reason tinyball happened to work for that six minute stretch in the fourth the last game is because the Celtics were dumb enough to go small themselves and played right into Pop's hands. For one, we didn't have to worry about giving up rebounds because Tim turned into this shotblocking demon. That he had the opportunity to block all those shots is a testement to Boston's selfishness and Doc Rivers' ineptness. All those guys driving on Tim have to do is make one extra pass and it's dunk after dunk after dunk. Instead we got stops. Against good teams this will not work.

Or perhaps you noticed that we didn't win the game. Kind of ironic for the offense to crap out at the worst possible time when we've got Tim and four smalls out there, right? Well these things happen when defenses force you to kick the ball out to Bruce Bowen in the corner. I know I've mentioned it once or twice, but as God is my witness my epitaph for the '06-07 Spurs will be "Either play Bruce with two bigs behind him, or sit his ass on the bench."

Yeah, I know, it's not quite as catchy as "Where's the beef?" I'll work on it.

You know who really suffers when we play tinyball with Bruce? The Hustlemaker, that's who. When we play with regular, Fab/Frankie set the screen for Manu when he's isolated. This frees Tim to stay in the lane and occupy defenders and gives Gonzo a mostly clean path to the rim.

Howevuh, when we play tinyball, then Tim has to be the screener by default and the lane will be clogged with defenders galore, and guess who they're doubling off of and leaving wide open ladies and germs? Mr. Potatohead, that's who. Manu's only option is to sling it over to the corner to a wide open Bowen and it's clank, clank, clank.

Furthermore, I don't think it's too hard to figure out why the crowd was so dull and lifeless on Saturday. Honestly I think Pop has no concept of what home court advantage is. The relationship of an excited crowd yelling to bringing his team extra energy seems to be completely lost on him. Not only do I get the impression that Pop would prefer to play the games in an empty gym but his holier than thou insistence for self-motivation among the troups speaks to a stupefying lack of understanding of even basic psychology.

Let me try to explain this as simply as I can. We've got this guy on our team. He's wild, he's energetic, he does crazy things. He dribbles behind his back, draws charges, deflects passes, hits threes and even dunks every blue moon. Also, and this is important, he speaks the español. Really I can't stress that part enough. His ethnicity and native language is one of the major reasons the home fans are drawn to him.

Pretty much any positive thing the guy in the white, black and silver #20 jersey does get the fans excited and into the game. Do you understand this you big dumb wino?

I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT LUC ROBITAILLE DAMMIT!

Only in ultra-liberal Hollywood could a Frenchie be a "fan favorite."

No, I'm referring to this dude...

Our new point guard?

Emanuel David Schnozzo Ginobili. Perhaps you've heard of him. Anybody care to take a guess why he ambled up and down the court for eight minutes the other day in the 1st quarter without getting a shot? Anyone? Bueller? Once again he's gone completely below the radar, lost in the sound and fury (signifying absofuckinglutely nothing) of Parker's one man show. You wanna call me a dick for shitting on a guy who scored 30 points on 14 shots and went 14-14 at the line while glorifying the other guy who went 2 of 8 for 8 points? Well you'd certainly be justified.

But guess what? I'M. NOT. WRONG.

A point guard's number one duty is to get his teammates involved. When we shoot 37.3% as a team against the defensively pitiful Celtics, you best believe the point guard is a little culpable. When all the Spurs whose first names don't start with a "T" shoot a combined 10 of 37, (27%) yes some blame falls on the primary distributor. It's HIS JOB to get these guys better shots. The fellas had a team meeting yesterday and once again the topic of "trusting your teammates" was addressed. That's code for "pass the fucking ball" in my book. For all of Tony's scoring, it has to be noted that he was a team worst -10 against Boston. I'm not saying he played poorly. The guy had a wonderful night scoring the ball. But it has been proven, ad nauseum, that the '06-07 Spurs do better when Tony feels like passing it. And if the concept of "home game" means anything at all, it'd be nice to get Manu involved early and often.

Your 3 Stars...

3. Michael Finley - 10 points on 10 shots is nothing to write home about, but he filled out the box score a bit with 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks. Team best +9 as well.

2. Tony Parker - I've said my piece. I bet he takes less than 10 shots against the Pacers.

1. Tim Duncan - 20, 16 and 7 blocks. Once again the missed freebies were a bugaboo. He was beat by the end. Tinyball wears him out methinks. Or maybe it was the 40 minutes.

Record: 46-20 Streak: L-2
Up Next: Vs. Indiana Pacers
The guys have been off for three days stewing over their crummy play and eager to run roughshod over the poor saps unlucky enough to be next on the schedule. Unfortunately the worst possible opponent for this situation is a sorry outfit like the Pacers. Is there a more boring team in the league? They play slooooooow. It'll be up to the team to give the fans a reason to be awake, let alone cheering.

Wake me when it's April

Game 64 Vs. Los Angeles: Spurs 93, Clippers 84

Who'd a thunk it, lucky 13 in the books! I really don't have a lot to say about this one. Snoozer. We haven't put together so much as a "B" game since we played the Rockets. And just so you don't think I'm biased, that was the night Manu sucked. What's there to say? We've just been sleepwalking the past week, letting teams hang around, turning it on for maybe a good eight or ten minute stretch and just coasting. Some games the offense just goes through the motions, (cos it's a motion offense you see) other games the defense gets lazy.

We've entered the "dog-days" phase of our winning streak. I think the team is kinda bored with playing shitty opponents. It's like the coaches and players make an unspoken agreement before tip-off: You don't make us sweat hard and we won't embarass you too badly. This is gonna sound bad, but I think the team had more fun when Tony was hurt, because at least then there was drama going in. The fans didn't know who'd win, the players didn't know. There was a challenge there. Now though it's like same old same old.

Matthew summed it all up pretty well. The Parker/Barry benching at the beginning of the 3rd, Finley's crappy shooting, Frenchie McWonderbutt in all his glorious ballhoggery. All I'll add is Horry once again had nothing, Beno got no love from Pop and Bonner is becoming Mr. 4th Quarter all of a sudden, no matter the score. He doesn't check in until the 4th once he's in, he ain't comin out. Coach is goofy.

Let's just go right to 3 stars...

3. Jacque Vaughn - 6 and 5 in 11 minutes? I'll take that. Dare I suggest he play more?
2. Manu Ginobili - 16 points on 8 shots doing the voodoo that he do.
1. Tony Parker - 12 FT attempts? How'd this happen? If he's not careful somebody will mistake him for "efficient." A positively D-Wadesque performance, down to the theatrics when getting fouled. Bravo!

No, it's not some prank photo I conjured up on Photoshop. Tony actually passed this ball.

Record: 46-18 Streak: W-13

Up Next: @ Milwaukee Bucks

They just shitcanned the coach. Frank Brickowski's in charge now and I don't know if it's because he's management's favorite or least favorite. We'll get to see how the players feel about Frank real quick. For some reason we always struggle against these guys, they're just a terrible match-up for us. They already kicked our asses in San Antonio earlier this year when both Manu and Barry had food poisoning. I think they scored like 90 points in the paint that game.

Here's a prediction: If we come out victorious, Bruce Bowen will get one of my 3 stars for his work on Redd.

As far as the Dallas-Phoenix game goes, I'm aware that the game featured 15 point comebacks from both teams, buzzer beating three pointers, numerous exciting plays, clutch shots from Nash and Terry and a boffo performance from Amare "Squished Testicles Aching Terribly" Stoudemire. Still despite all that, I didn't find the proceedings all that dramatic. For there to be "drama" I'd have to "give a shit." And I didn't. No matter who won or lost there was a positive and a negative for the Spurs.

From my end, here's all that matters:

A) Both teams played hard, yet were atrocious on defense.

B) Dallas has no answer for the pick and roll, the Suns can't rebound.

C) Don't hand Nowitzki that MVP just yet.

D) Either one of these teams can be had, but it won't be easy. They're not invincible.

E) Just keep exhausting those fellas, Mike and AJ.


Speaking of not caring...

Okay, before I start this pointless exercise, I offer the following disclaimers:

1) I can't fucking stand college sports.

2) I haven't watched a college basketball game all year and couldn't name more than 10 players in the country as recently as eight hours ago.

3) Historically, I've had much more success with my brackets when I've completely winged it than when I spent time agonizingly researching it.

4) Still, since I don't care and have no rooting interest, I'm remarkably free of bias and thus able to logically figure these things out most of the time. For instance I had Florida as a finalist last year and seven of the elite eight three years ago.

5) Really, I fucking hate college sports.

This year, to be different, I decided to assign a value to the teams and make my picks that way. Of course since my perception of the numbers was based on a cursory surface level glance at the stats, the values I assigned were still totally subjective. I decided on five categories: Depth, guards, frontcourt/size, defense and intangibles (mostly experience and coaching). On each category I ranked a team on a 1-5 scale. This led to some predictable results and some that will have you wishing I was in your pool.

Anyhow, here we go...

Midwest Region:

The only first round upsets I have are # 11 Winthrop over # 6 Notre Dame and # 10 Georgia Tech over # 7 UNLV. Winthrop has three scorers of their own in Jenkins, Martin and Bradshaw to match ND's three guard line-up, but they're way deeper than the Irish and won't be physically intimidated by ND's size. GT has two future NBAers in Crittendon and Young and they're a horrible match-up for UNLV's smallish backcourt and crappy defense.

In the second round Arizona was a squad that interested me, but against the Gators they have no shot. However I do like Winthrop upsetting # 3 Oregon as well because they don't play much defense in the Pac-10 and they have a lot more experience than the streaky ducks. Wisconsin's tough D will force too many turnovers from the Yellowjackets to hold on there and Maryland's size in the backcourt and 3 point defense will be too much for Butler.

Florida's interior scoring and experience will carry them to the elite eight past the Terps and Cinderella Winthrop will pull another shocker, overwhelming the Badgers with their versatility and bevy of scoring threats. The dream finally ends for them against Florida in the regional final as the big man trio of Noah, Harford and Richard will be too unrelenting on the boards.

West Region:

Pretty much the same story here, the only first round upsets once again going for the # 10 and # 11 seeds... I like Virginia Commonwealth to get by the inexperienced Dukies who aren't really good at anything and Gonzaga to romp against a Hoosier squad completely bereft of size or talent.

In the second round Kansas-Kentucky will be closer than people think, but talent will ultimately prevail. I see # 5Va Tech easily pulling an "upset" over # 4 Southern Illonois because of their senior backcourt and their size and # 3 Pitt stomping all over a VCU team lucky to draw Duke in round 1. The big shocker will be Gonzaga avenging last year's choke to the Bruins due to their superior depth and scoring options. I really don't think the Pac-10 is worth a shit.

I've got the Zags suprising Pitt as well in the sweet 16, mainly because the Panthers' defense really isn't as impressive this year as past seasons. And Kansas' trio of Rush, Wright and Chalmers will overwhelm both the Hokies and Gonzaga in the elite eight.

now things get kinda nutty...

East Region:

First off, I have # 14 Oral Roberts humbling # 3 Washington St. The Golden Eagles have the tandem of Green and Tutt and good size as well. I can't figure out anything good about the Cougars. Also, I'm pretty much declaring war on Simmons because not only do I have his alma mater, Holy Cross losing in the first round to So. Illonois in the West region, but I see his man crush Kevin Durant and the Longhorns leaving in short order, losing a stunner to # 13 New Mexico State. The Aggies have a senior backcourt, a versatile bench, Haskins at SF and a gaggle of bigs to throw at Durant. Plus Simmons has kind of brainwashed me into thinking that their coach sucks even though I don't know the man from Adam. Ooh, also I got # 9 Mich St surviving a great one against # 8 Marquette.

Second round, Georgetown's size is too much for Boston College, who suspended their best big man for some good reason probably and the Foslen/Myers forward combo of Vanderbilt will be too much for Oral Roberts. # 5 USC will be the last of the Pac-10 mohicans, prevailing over the Aggies thanks to four double figure starters, their depth and their size. The shocker will be Tom Izzo's Spartans squeezing by the # 1 Tarheels. What can I say, Izzo's crew has an outstanding bench, play super defense and Drew Neitzel can go off against anyone. Carolina has a couple of future NBAers in Wright and Hansbrough, but they're too young overall, especially in the backcourt.

# 6 Vanderbilt destroys more brackets by scoring just enough to get by the offensively-challenged Hoyas. Their whole team is Jrs. and Srs. and they won't be intimidated out there. And USC will seem like a breeze to the Spartans after the Carolina stunner. Team Izzo will outslug the Commodores in the elite eight, officially becoming the media darlings of the Final Four.

South Region:

I've got straight chalk in the first round, believe it or not. Didn't pick one 12 to beat a 5. In the second round the Buckeyes will do cruel and unspeakable things to the Mormons, Virginia will roll over the Tennessee midgets and Texas A&M will get past Pitino's ten-deep pack of mediocrities. My one small upset will be # 7 Nevada beating # 2 Memphis in a doozy, mainly thanks to their stud, Nick Fazekas.

A&M's airtight D will put the clamps on the big Greek in the Sweet 16 while the # 4 Cavailies will tumble the mighty Oden thanks to their bench, experience and the Singletary-Reynolds backcourt. And oh what the hell, they'll beat Vandy in the elite 8 too...

Final Four: Florida wins a classic against Kansas, Michigan State clusterfucks Virginia and the Gators take the title game to make it two in a row. Wheeeee.

Here's my bracket if you need visual proof...

There's that's my one obligatory College Basketball post of the year.

Spurs Dynasty NCAA Pool

It's March Madness, baby, and the brackets are up! Tip-off is in less than 24 hours.

I'd like to invite you to join the Spurs Dynasty NCAA Pool on Yahoo! Sports.

  Group ID: 67448
  Password: xxxxx

The deadline to join and make picks is tip-off of the first game on Thursday, March 15, which is 12:20pm EDT, 9:20am PDT.

This is not a competition, it is only an exhibition — please, no wagering.

I remembered! (NJ game recap)

http://poundingtherock.com/story/2007/3/13/53048/5641

It took a while for that e-mail to register where you guys wanted the links to PtR columns I write. The title is kinda hard to explain. One of our readers said he'd go to PtR more regularly if Matthew or I had stories about our fathers being gay or something. Okay, so it wasn't that hard to explain. We just have weird readers.

MANU PLAYER OF THE WEEK, BUT HERE IN OAKLAND

Looks like Dirk Diggler No-wits is crying (not that Erick "Contract Year" Dampier ain't)...
from the AP:

"Dirk Nowitzki even got embarrassed enough to draw a technical foul while sitting on the bench.

Nowitzki became visibly frustrated in the third quarter, flattening Davis for an offensive foul before comically swatting a loose ball out of a cameraman's hands in his fury.

Monta Ellis scored eight points and made a spectacular move in the second quarter, driving around Nowitzki and making an acrobatic, double-clutch layup under the basket while Erick Dampier fouled him."

No Artest, no Charles, but plenty of Manu

Game 62 @ Sacramento: Spurs 100, Kings 93

What. The. Fuck.

We had the perfect set-up.

A) A Thursday night game on TNT.
B) Charles Barkley's the biggest Ginobili fan on the planet who isn't gay, an Argentine, a gay Argentine or me.
C) Manu's having the best sustained stretch of his career outside of the otherwordly '05 Playoffs.
D) Ron "Boom Boom" Artest wasn't going to be in the building. He's the only King who can remotely check Gonzo.

Artest couldn't make it, he was all tied up.

All the makings for a night of hilarity and merriment, right?

Wrong.

Of all the nights for The Chuckster to take a vacation, he picked this night. Why not take off last week's dreadful Clips-Supersonicahs skirmish instead? I mean, I understand everyone deserves some time off and I can only imagine how grueling it must be to work for 45 minutes once a week, but I am severely pissed at Charles. Yeah yeah, they played the recording of him yelling "GIN-OOOOOOOH-BLI!!!!" a few times, but it just wasn't the same. Plus the underrated glue of the whole operation, Ernie Johnson, was missing as well, and his replacement was a total no talent dweeb. In my opinion Kenny "the xenophobe" Smith is by far the least valuable of the much heralded "Inside the NBA" trio, not Ernie. If they were "The Three Amigos" Kenny would be Martin Short. Very disappointing.

Kiss my ass, Chuck.

As for the game, the first half was a bit of a slog. Defensively we suffered because Ron Ron wasn't around to take any terrible shots and Corlis Williamson had his way with us inside during the 2nd quarter, making his first six attempts and scoring 15 points despite us playing with two bigs the entire period. Meanwhile on offense we never could take advantage of Bibby with Bruce like we did the last time we played these guys. The scoring was pretty spread out for us and even though Manu got off to a good start, he couldn't play too long because of foul trouble. Still, when he told Cheryl Miller during the halftime interview that he wasn't worried about the fouls because he won't play that many second half minutes, ("15 maximum") I knew something unusual was about to happen.

Speaking of unusual, not to sound catty or anytning, but did anybody see Eva at this game? What the hell has happened to this gal? Did you see how much make-up she had caked on her mug? She's aging in dog years. Tony, my man, are you sure you know what you're getting yourself into? There are literally thousands of young models, actresses and wannabe models or actresses who'd love to make your acquaintance.

I swear to God, the caption for this picture on ESPN.com felt the need to point out that the mascot was the one on the left and Eva was the one on the right. Not a good sign.

The third quarter was just a mess. Nobody could make a damn shot and the quarter ended 17-17. The Kings actually shot it way better, but were done in by seven turnovers in the period. Still a four point game and the win streak was in peril.

Luckily we've got Emanuel "White Jesus" Ginobili. The Hustlemaker blitzed the Kings to the tune of 16 fourth quarter points (5 of 7, three bombs, three FTs) and two helpers and we managed to outlast Sacto despite some Martin's own hot streak there in the final period. The Spurs didn't recapture the lead for good until Parker, who had been a miserable 3 of 13 in his first full game back from that hip flexor injury, made consecutive driving lay-ups with less than three minutes to go, the second of which was highlight worthy. Again, the field goal defense wasn't good, but the Kings had five more giveaways.

Manu, bracing for the Artest clothesline that would never come.

All in all, a "C+" game at best, but it was the fifth in seven nights so the guys deserve a lot of credit. Pop's substitution patterns remain as bizarre as ever. In one memorable third quarter sequence he replaced Elson with Fab, but then seemingly changed his mind as he replaced Oberto with Horry thirty seconds later. Beno didn't get any run at all even though he's been shooting great of late and Tony was laboring badly. Bonner checked into the game for the first time with four minutes to go in the 3rd and never checked out. And Manu "15 Minutes Maximum" Ginobili played the final 3/4 of the half (18 mins) without a rest, something I'm almost certain has never happened before in his Spurs career.

Tony: "Damn Pop ees going to Manu more and more lately. You steel like me the most, right Team?" Tim (to himself): ::Just smile and nod, smile and nod.::

Eleven in a row, by hook or by crook, and home sweet home we go.

Your 3 Stars... (sorry this one goes to the usual suspects. Bonner brought some good energy, but just didn't do anything in the fourth quarter box score wise to deserve a spot).

3. Tony Parker - 5 of 17 is pretty gross, but his best quarter was the 4th and he made some clutch plays. Passed the ball to Manu an' everything...

2. Tim Duncan - Eight more rebounds then next closest Spur. Not his best shooting night, but solid as always.

1. Manu Ginobili - Fell in love with the three a bit much there in the fourth, but he was probably too pooped to drive. Another MVP performance if for no other reason than he doesn't hum Hasselhoff songs at the free throw line.

Record: 44-18 Streak: W-11
Up Next: Vs. New Jersey Nets
Ahhh, the team that started it all off. They'll be significantly healthier than the last time as both Kidd and Jefferson are back in the fold. However this will be a segababa for them and we're just an awful matchup for them, especially on the inside with Tim. Plus, Tony always seems to get up for _ason Kidd because he's got a chip on his shoulder for the hardon Pop had for Mr. Husband of the Year once upon a time.

NBA.com Play of the Day: Tony Parker

Tony makes an off-balance layup in traffic.

I'm totally hetero, but a little Beno-curious.

Game 60 @ Los Angeles: Spurs 88, Clippers 74

Wheeee. I had to venture out to the sports bar once again because the Clippers are always blacked out where I live, so I was already kinda grumpy and the dullness of the game did little to make me feel any better. Plus I had to record "Heroes" and watch it way later. God I'm such a spoiled Spurs fan. Bitching about everything. What's wrong with me?

Anyway, you know things are goin' well for your ballclub when they've got streaks within streaks. Not only have they won nine in a row but they've held the last three foes to 74 points on the button. That's just sick, yo.

Of course the Clippers did have something to do with it. Not only did Shaun Livingston practically have his entire right leg torn off at the knee last week just by landing funny on a lay-up attempt, but E.T. Cassell is out too with a groin strain (as I mentioned on PTR, it must take a toll on his body to have such gynormous testicles made out of pure trylithium) as well. Consequently the Clips had to make do with the point guard tandem of Daniel Ewing - passes like Daniel Fortson, dribbles like Patrick Ewing - and the freshly signed Jason Hart. Predictably their offense looked out of rhythm and lacked creativity.

Too bad they don't have a 3rd point guard that totally kicks ass like we do, right? More on that later...

Anyway, the bad news is once again the wee rapping Frenchman was out with a bad hip and for the first time in such a circumstance we kinda played like a team that was missing their starting point. Our shooting was a decent enough 47.6%, but overall we were just terribly sloppy and sluggish, putting up only 63 shots and coughing it up 19 freakin' times. Also the fastbreak was nonexistent. I mean good lord four minutes into the 3rd quarter it was 44-40. It was as ugly a game against the Clippers could possibly get without Sam I Am in uniform. Just imagine if Kaveman Kaman hadn't gotten that haircut...

Look where Manu's looking, you know he's thinking, "Hey didn't you used to be fucking hideous?"

Thankfully both the game and the tedium were broken by a 16-0 Spurs run in which Manu had 11 of the 16, including nine in a row at one stretch. Oberto found him on a backdoor cut for the first hoop and Manu gently dropped the ball in even though his hand was above the rim, (he's openly teasing me with the refusal to dunk at this point) he drove to the cup off a Vaughn feed and finger rolled the second bucket, he somehow found himself all alone under the rim to tip in Bowen's missed jumper for the third and he hit a three from the right wing after receiving another pass from Jacque to finish off his mini-run. Pretty much all she wrote for the game after that...

The game wasn't completely dull... for five minutes.

Incredibly we were once again carried home by that sweet shootin' Slovenian, Beno Udrih, who scored nine of his 14 in the fourth. Sadly, he also happened to have four turnovers as well, including a couple of the particularly gruesome variety that makes that one vein on Pop bulge (no not that one sicko) so once Tony comes back it's right back to the bench for Boy Wonder.

Let's take inventory for a second with Beno... He doesn't guard anybody, doesn't have a good handle, takes forever to get the team in their sets if they ever get there at all and his court vision has been somewhat lacking let's say. Pretty much all we can ever hope for when he plays at this point is for him to knock down a couple of shots and to not break down sobbing on national television. Think of a slightly more athletic Steve Kerr, but with a much, much, much, much, much worse shot. And he doesn't saying anything funny to the media. Oh and he might be gay. I'm not saying it as a putdown or anything. I don't care either way. Dude just might be gay, that's all. Don't even sit here reading this and pretend you haven't considered it. Really, if he were gay, what better team is there to be gay on than the Spurs? Half the roster are cultured, renaissanced furners and the other half are grizzled vets who've been around too long to care and aren't the types to make waves even if they did.

Can I sit here today and honestly tell you I'm positive that Pop has never called Tony some hateful homophobic slur like "faggot" or "buttpirate" or perhaps even "prostate spelunker" in a moment of anger? No, I cannot. Can I sit here today and say I've never done so? Um... I can't recall. I'm just sayin' if Beno were on the down low I'd be cool with it and I would think it'd be better for him to be a San Antonio Spur than say a Denver Nugget or a Detroit Piston.

Um... perhaps I should think about these blogs and outline them and plan them out before just diving right in... eh?

I respect your struggle my friend. It must not be easy to be an NBA player and a... Slovenian. Sweet MySpace page, btw.

That's all I can think of to say about this one. Oh, except Horry looked pissed when he was subbed out in the 4th because he hadn't scored yet. And Matthew told me the Clippers have never led against the Spurs for even a second this season in three games. And Elson and Oberto played together alot for some reason. I guess Pop wasn't feeling good about Bonner or RoHo, I dunno. Oh and there was this stretch in the 2nd quarter where we played tinyball with Fab as our only "big." I'm not sure if that actually happened or if the bartender drugged my diet coke to punish me for not ordering any booz.

Your 3 Stars...

3. Beno Udrih - I'd apologize, but it's not like he reads this.

2. Jacque Vaughn - 10 points, six assists, team best + 21.

1. Manu Ginobili - MVP! MVP! MVP!

Record: 42-18 Streak: W-9
Up Next: @ Portland Trailblazers
I don't know if Tony will play. I don't know if we'll pull out our 10th game in a row, even in a grueling fourth-in-five-nights situation. I don't even know if Zach Randolph will make it to the game without committing a felony. What I do know is that I'm not holding my breath waiting for Manu to cram one on anybody anytime soon...

P.S. One non-related Spurs side note. I usually do this sorta thing on PtR. As you may know I follow the Eagles in football. Their best receiver, Donte Stallworth is a free agent and the notoriously thrifty Eagles FO (yes both my favorite franchises have cheap owners, I'm a masochist that way) has hinted that they're probably going to let him go to a suitor with deeper pockets. This morning though the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Stallworth is involved in the league's substance abuse program, one of the early stages where he doesn't have to miss any games yet. That kind of information is supposed to be a secret but somehow the Philly paper gets it? A bit odd don't you think? Obviously there is speculation (most notably in profootballtalk.com) that the Eagles FO spilled the beans so that other teams would back off Donte and they could re-sign him on the cheap.

So my question to all of you is do you think what the Eagles FO did, if true was wrong or is it just smart business? After all they didn't force Stallworth to do whatever illegal thing he did in the first place, right? Should I feel guilty rooting for this team next year? Should I stop rooting for them period? Am I making a mountain out of a molehill? Discuss.

Donte being done dirty?

Steve, We Never Forgot

In his latest rankings, Steve Kerr writes what we've been saying for awhile now at SpursDynasty.

They've been lying in the weeds all season. Most fans have forgotten all about them. The Dallas Mavericks are so far ahead of them in the standings that they have no shot at a division title.

Quietly though, the San Antonio Spurs have put together their best stretch of the season, winning eight straight games with a display of ferocious defense. In six of those victories, the Spurs gave up fewer than 83 points, proving that they remain the best defensive club in the NBA.

With its three stars – Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili – healthy and playing with great energy, San Antonio appears poised for a strong run down the stretch. So before you anoint Dallas and Phoenix as the two best teams in the league, just remember that the Spurs are as capable as ever of winning an NBA title.

A Pair o' Massive Rants

Greetings, fellow enlightened Spurs fans. I, Bramlet, have emerged from my sacred nook of Spurs contemplation and voodoo to issue SpursDynasty fatwas on two individuals who have earned the wrath of all those who truly love our Spurs.

1. Public Enemy #1A: Matt “Superfluous Mucus” Guokas

You fucked with the wrong team, Mr. Guokas.

As a Spurs fan in exile, I have the misfortune of being unable to listen to every Sean Elliott broadcast and am instead condemned, for what seems like far more than half of the non-nationally broadcast games the Spurs play, to listen to the often laughably misinformed ravings of the buffoons who have bullshitted their way into a job “commentating” (believe it or not, that odd back-formation dates all the way back to 1794, according to my trusty Merriam Webster) for all the other so-called teams (or “tIIms”) in the NBA. Over the years, I must admit that these broadcasters have grown slightly less ignorant of our Spurs and more respectful in their pronouncements. But occasionally my ears are still assaulted by something so asinine and blasphemous as to actually be worth getting pissed off about. Enter Mr. Guokas.

From his pre-game commentary:

“Way back when, in the first times that Dwight faced Duncan, it was all Tim Duncan. But the last two, Dwight Howard has caught up and then some. He has made Tim Duncan look [in a contemptuous voice now] very, very weak and soft defensively.”

Granted, Mr. Mucus, Dwight Howard is a beast, and he’s made a lot of progress, and I have nothing but respect for him, and that was one hell of a play that he made in Orlando to win that game. But it was one game. I won’t bother to list all of the accomplishments that establish Tim’s badassness far more impressively than anything Dwight Howard has ever done. Simply on the evidence of that one game, it is foolishness of the highest order to call a man who pulled down 16 rebounds (and scored 24 points and dished for 6 dimes) against a bigger, stronger, and more athletic man “very, very weak and soft.” As for that other game in which Howard supposedly owned Timmy? April 13th, 2006:

Dwight Howard: 22 points, 13 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 steal
Tim Duncan: 31 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals (playing with plantar fasciitis)

The most recent game didn’t do much for your claim either, Matt:

Dwight Howard: 9 points, 9 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal, 0 assists
Tim Duncan: 19 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, 3 steals, 4 assists

A day will eventually come when Tim can no longer outplay Dwight. But for now, Matt, you will worship reverently at the altar of Tim Duncan, and when that day does come, you will speak of the greatness of Tim’s Hall of Fame career with nothing but respect. In other words, don’t even think about using the S word again. Gregg Popovich is the only human being on this planet who has license to call Timothy Duncan soft, Mucus Man. Remember that the next time you set foot on holy San Antonio ground - championship ground - and remember to keep looking over your shoulder, and in your closet before you turn out the light at night, and in the toilet before you sit on it, and inside that pocket pussy you take on road trips, because you’re on notice.

I do have to thank you guys, though, for the pleasure of watching not only you eat green crow enchiladas (a San Antonio specialty), but also your broadcasting partner David Steele. Right as Manu was beginning the third-quarter tear (five three-pointers in the quarter, a franchise record, not to mention a host of other great plays for an eventual total of 31 points) that got the Spurs going and turned the game into a rout, Mr. Steele was foolish enough to mention Manu’s history of sub-par performances against the Magic. And then Manu just made you and your team look silly. What the hell were you thinking? You remind me of Steve Irwin taunting a crocodile or lion, Mr. Steele. Except that Steve was cool and funny, and his foolishness served a good purpose, and I cried like a bitch when he died.* You, on the other hand, got gobbled.

Who will cry when that metaphorical stingray comes for you two clowns? No one here at SpursDynasty.

* O.k., not really, but I was sad because he seemed like a good bloke.


Public Enemy #1B: Sloan, a benighted fan of the Dallas ’Ricks

Being Texas expatriates, a couple of us here at SpursDynasty sometimes find ourselves befriending fellow Texans. Sometimes, it’s out of a genuine spirit of camaraderie - contrary to popular opinion in most of the civilized world (as well as presidential precedent), there are a lot of good people in Texas. Other times, it’s out of pity and against our better judgment. Thus we found ourselves friends of one Sloan, whose last name I will refrain from mentioning to avoid embarrassing his family.

Sloan was smart and morally upright enough to get the hell out of Dallas, which represents everything bad about Texas, but unfortunately he failed to sever his emotional ties with his hometown NBA team, whose primary qualities, coincidentally, mirror those of many of the people of Dallas: arrogance, prickishness, obnoxiousness, and too damn much wealth for their own good.

Every once in a while, Sloan will spout some nonsense about how Tim Duncan isn’t one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history, or he’ll fire off an ignorant e-mail that just makes me cringe, like the one below, because it reminds me that despite our best efforts at re-education and moral guidance, he remains a fan of the ’Ricks, convinced that their regular-season success is going to lead to a championship:

"I like the debate of who is second best. Entertaining to look down on a 70 pace season and see who are the pretenders. Mavs have the best owner, best coach, best player (Dirk is a lock for MVP), best 6th man, best stadium, best uniforms (shall I stop?). ok one more... best team!! Cuban to purchase The Riverwalk and Alamo before the year is out. Don't fret, The Spurs are on most people's top 3 teams in Texas list. MavsDynasty...there is still room on the bandwagon!!"

Sloan, Sloan, Sloan. I’ll make one more attempt to show you that the light at the end of the tunnel that you think is a ’Ricks championship is actually the oncoming train of the post All-Star break Spurs.

Let’s examine the Spurs' current 8-game winning streak:

2/13 @ Nets W 107-82
2/14 @ Pistons W 90-81
2/20 vs. Nuggets W 95-80
2/21 @ Hawks W 103-96
2/24 vs. Sonics W 102-71
2/26 vs. Raptors W 107-91
3/2 vs. Magic W 98-74
3/3 @ Rockets W 97-74

That's an average margin of victory of 18.75 points. (For the season, the Spurs are first in the league in point differential, and apparently it's now gone up to + 8.5.) But the thing is, Sloan, that number, as impressive as it is, doesn't give even the slightest suggestion of how completely the Spurs are dominating almost everyone they play. Most of these games were over by either halftime or the end of the third quarter at the latest. One way to demonstrate this is to show how many minutes per game our top three players have averaged over this stretch:

TD: 31.75
TP: 29.0
Manu: 25.1

The Spurs have managed to dominate teams despite playing their three best players extremely limited minutes in comparison with other NBA stars. The Mavericks' top three, for example, all average about 36 minutes a game. This tells us a few things:
1. The Spurs would be humiliating teams even more obscenely than they are now if their stars played comparable minutes, and if they were colossal pricks.
2. The Spurs' much-maligned supporting cast is coming around.
3. The Spurs' big three are extremely well rested.
4. The Mavs are going to take it up the ass come playoff time.

And don't forget what I said before about Francisco Elson being the X-factor against the Mavs. He's looking better and better defensively, and as someone on SpursTalk pointed out, the Spurs are 19-0 when he plays at least 22 minutes. (As Michael has also pointed out, yes, this is a potentially misleading factoid, but I still think it has some significance.)

You can take your 70-win pace, lube it generously, and shove it up the ’Ricks mascot, Sloan, along with all the other things we know you like to put there. 70 wins won't matter to anyone after the Spurs knock them out of the playoffs.

But if you come to your senses and jump on the Spurs’ bandwagon, we’ll welcome you warmly, my misguided friend. I’m extending you an open invitation to sanity. I hope you take me up on it.

BY THE NUMBERS

Spurs' victory over the Rockettes, by the numbers:

• the San Antonio Spurs won their season-high eighth straight game
  
• 13 points and eight rebounds came from Francisco Elson
  
• The win clinched San Antonio's 10th straight winning road season. The Lakers and Celtics are the only other NBA teams to have accomplished that.

Dwight Howard Didn't Give Me An Orgasm!!!! (and neither did Manu)

Game 58 Vs. Orlando: Spurs 98, Magic 74

This post will be a little different. No weird tangents, no amusing anecdotes, no lewd jokes. Just cold hard math this time. The Spurs aren't fucking around anymore boys and girls, so why should I? This game was the most encouraging sign yet that we might make some noise this May (and dare I suggest, June).

We had 45 points with eight minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. The offense was sluggish, lifeless. We had no spacing, no rhythm, nobody was moving, nobody could shoot, we were settling for horrible shots when we weren't turning it over and the crowd appeared to be sitting on their hands. For a six minute stretch overlapping the 2nd and 3rd quarters we had all of four points, both buckets courtesy of Timmy.
Orlando has just reeled off a 6-0 run forcing Pop into a time out and their huddle was energetic and boastful.

If this were a game in December or January we'd have been down 20.

Here's the thing though...

It's not December or January. We're in March now. And as putrid as our offense was we were still winning by six, 45-39. THAT'S how good our defense has been lately my friends. We've become a fucking vise. Teams are absolutely killing themselves trying to get open shots against us these days. The bigs are communicating, the smalls are rotating, we're repeatedly cutting the court in half and eliminating ball movement. Orlando had a paltry ten assists on their 28 field goals and they were 1-12 from three. Also, having learned our lesson from the last game, we doubled Dwight Howard whenever he caught the ball and made somebody else beat us. More often than not, that "somebody" couldn't. Yes, Turkoglu had a good game, going 7 of 8, but that he only got off the eight shots is telling. One would think that with all of our scrambling and doubleteaming that we'd constantly find ourselves in poor position to limit second chances, yet we only gave up six offensive rebounds all night. Most of all we made Orlando play at a snail's pace, putting up only 65 shots (compared to our 79) and generally having to use most of the shot clock to find an opening.

As long as our defense can play near this level in May we'll never be out of a game. Of course I understand we'll be facing teams with multiple offensive threats but the way I see it, the magic number is 90. If we hold anyone below 90 then we have no excuses for not winning. I suppose adjusting for Phoenix's pace we might have to bump it up to 98 or so.

Nice funnel Brent!


Still, at the pitiful rate we were scoring we weren't going to hold them off forever so somebody had to step up, especially since Tony was gimpy and playing like smelly goat ass. And believe it or not but Manu seemed like an unlikely candidate to be that somebody. First off, he had struggled mightily against the Magic his whole career including a weak 2 of 7 showing in their latest meeting. Secondly he was only 3 of 9 in the first half and had bricked all five of his jumpers.

But after the time out he hit a three from behind Tim's screen. Then another. And another. A fourth. And a fadeaway fifth at the buzzer. Gino was directly responsible for the last 20 points in the 3rd quarter, 16 on his own and assisting on the other two baskets. Another bomb early in the fourth sandwiched around two old fashioned three point plays gave Ginobili 25 points in the second half (Orlando had 20 in that stretch) and before you could blink it was 78-59 and the Spurs coasted to another blow out win. After finishing with a line of 31 on 11-19 shooting to along with four rebounds and five assists, Manu has vaulted to sixth overall in Hollinger's PER ratings. Maybe I'm desperately searching for any positives I can find, but on some level I think it's encouraging that we have three guys in the top 25 and two in the top six while Dallas' second best player doesn't crack the top 30. If we face them in the playoffs I think Manu and Tony will have to significantly outplay The Big Bug and Mr. Nutpuncher.

You think he's looking forward to another go around with Dallas?

Naturally any blog covering a Magic game has to make some mention of Dwight Howard though. I mean have you seen this guy's body? He's like a young Shaq, except that he's not a prick and he actually tries to make his free throws. We always marvel at Amare Stoudemire's freakish athleticism, but for my money this guy is the biggest beast in the league. He's got the talent to average 20/20 and 5 blocks for a whole season but I just get the feeling that the supporting cast and coaching in Orlando is holding him back. It's an open secret that the Spurs are planning on making a big push for him (along with several other teams I'd imagine) in two years, but I won't even allow myself to dream of such a thing because it'd be so ridiculous. I mean can you picture Tim, Manu, Tony and Dwight on the same team? How terrible would the other eight players have to be for us to not win a title? We could have four Beno Udrihs and four Sean Marks and still crush everyone. But yeah, it's not gonna happen.

Good thing we've got breakaway rims now or this guy would have caused two lengthy delays in one game with his savage dunks. Holy Jesus. One thing's for sure, I know I can never be an NBA GM like Jerry Krause because while I love watching Howard play, he's never given me a woody, let alone an orgasm like Pippen's college film did for Crumbs. Alright, one lewd joke. Couldn't help it.

Version 2.0, sans movies, rap albums or general idiocy.

Your 3 Stars... (I'm gonna give Timmy a night off in this one. It gets pretty monotonous when he's so great every game. He's by far our best player, let's move on).

3. Michael Finley - 12 points on 5 of 8 off the bench and he's starting to heat up for the playoffs. The good news is that February was his best shooting month of the year thus far. The bad news was that it was still a shitty .420.

2. Fabricio Oberto - It never fails, every time I bury somebody he plays well the next day and vice versa. Shaq kicks Detroit's butt and Oberto shows a pulse. I thought Fab brought a lot of energy tonight with 7 rebs in 19 mins and was solid defensively. Team best + 27.

1. Manu Ginobili - About time he showed up. God damn does he suck. So what he made a few lucky jumpers. Simmons was being generous when he said Manu had lost a couple of steps. It's more like eight steps and he's balder than Britney's vag now. He can't even dunk anymore, what a fucking joke. He's already a bench player in '07, he'll be out of the league in '08.

Record: 40-18 Streak: W-7
Up Next: @ Houston Rockets
They're still missin' the big Chinese feller so I really like our chances segababa an' all. They played last night too, in the Mile High City no less and they got in to Houston even later than we did. Our record against the Dal-Phx-Hou-Uta-LAL quintet is a weak 5-9 and we're gonna have to win the rest on our schedule just to get to the .500 vs. the best of the West. Tony's out with a sore hip flexor so we're gonna need Beno to not embarass us. Good thing this building is where he had his best outing of the season.

Spurs Will Make it 7 in a Row Tonight

Don't look now, but the Spurs are playing very well, with a season-high six straight wins. Check out Michael's post-game rant, if you haven't already.

Except for the Mavericks, no other team currently has a longer winning streak. And the Spurs have the third best record in the league, but I'm trying to temper my excitement, unlike some fans who bought into ESPN's John Hollinger's recent Power Rankings.

Steve Kerr wrote on Monday:

"Watch out for the Spurs. They've won five in a row and have held opponents to 82 points or fewer in four of those games."

Make that six in a row. And they've shot better than 50% in four of those games. Pop likes what he's seeing, and so do I.

"We're beginning to turn the corner and get that focus we need come playoff time."

Tonight's home game against Orlando should be an interesting test, since the Spurs have lost three of the last four matchups. Oddsmakers favor the Spurs by 11. I doubt it will even be that close.